Credit: The Blue Roof.
Not too long ago, Korea was considered a Confucian society, with the younger generation supporting their elderly parents out of filial piety 효. Not so much anymore.
According to a National Pension Research Institute 국민연금연구원 report published August 24, public pensions have largely replaced family support as the primary income for the elderly. Public pensions - the National Pension 국민연금, the Basic Pension 기초연금, or both - accounted for 28.2% of elder income in 2023, up from 16.5% in 2013, while private transfers from family members fell from 20.9% to 12.1% of income.
Increased pensions have improved financial conditions for elderly citizens. Average annual income for those 66 and older rose 79.2% over the past decade, from KRW 7.8m (USD 5.7k) in 2013 to KRW 13.9m (USD 10k) in 2023. Those gains have significantly alleviated the overall poverty in South Korea, which has historically been heavily concentrated among the elderly. (See previous coverage, “Elder Poverty and Subsistence Labor.”)
